shunpike
noun
shun·pike ˈshən-ˌpīk 
: a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway
shunpiker
ˈshən-ˌpī-kər
noun shunpiking
ˈshən-ˌpī-kiŋ
noun 
Did you know?
America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word shunpike, too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have existed for centuries (the word turnpike has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678), and were quite common in 19th-century America. Shunpike has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory.
Word History
First Known Use
1804, in the meaning defined above
shunpikes
noun
as in secondary roads
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- secondary roads
- side streets
- bystreets
- side roads
- streets
- drives
- branches
- highways
- passes
- crossroads
- roadways
- roads
- pikes
- rows
- high roads
- pike
- turnpikes
- byways
- freeways
- thoroughfares
- expressways
- backstreets
- avenues
- boulevards
- thruways
- arteries
- corniches
- corridors
- drags
- arterials
- traces
- ways
- carriageways
- switchbacks
- tracks
- trails
